RICHMOND, Va. – The Towson University football team's 10-0 first quarter start did not hold up on the road as the Tigers fell to Richmond 28-17 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Towson (4-5, 3-3 CAA), which had a slight advantage on total offensive yards with 341 to its opponent's 334, was up by 10 nearly midway through the second quarter, but Richmond (4-5, 2-4 CAA) finished the game on a 28-7 run to win.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson finished with 240 yards passing in the game to Richmond's 155, compared to Richmond's 179 rushing yards to Towson's 101.  Towson had three turnovers in the game, with Richmond scoring touchdowns on a pair of them, to UR's two.
• Towson used two quarterbacks in the game, starting with Chris Ferguson in the first half, going 14-for-27 for 147 yards, a touchdown and two picks.  Vincent Amendola took over in the second half, going 6-for-10 with a touchdown and an interception.  The top target for Towson was Caleb Smith, who made five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown, while Darian Street caught four for 76 yards.  On his first career catch, Dion Crews-Harris scored a 15-yard touchdown.
• On the ground, Jerry Howard Jr. carried the ball 13 times for 85 yards, averaging 6.5 yards a carry.
• Defensively, S.J. Brown II shared the team lead in tackles with seven, adding an interception and a fumble recovery.  Mark Collins also had seven tackles plus a forced fumble while Sam Gyeni earned two sacks.  The Towson defense did not allow a Richmond score in two red score chances.
• Richmond-native Keegan Vaughan converted a 24-yard field goal for the first score of the game.
• For Richmond, quarterback Joe Mancuso was 16-for-28 for 155 yards and an interception, finding Leroy Henley six times for 62 yards.  Jerry Garcia Jr. rushed for 60 yards and a score.  Darius Reynolds tallied up eight tackles and 4.5 sacks while Kobie Turner and Tyler Dressler each had defensive touchdowns in the second quarter.

Postgame Quote:
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose: "I'm disappointed in the result of course; handing them 14 points was a challenging obstacle to overcome.  Thought our guys showed a lot of character cutting it to a score, but it wasn't enough to get it done.
 
How It Happened:

• Towson pulled out a couple different plays on the opening drive, including after Jabari Allen's 100^th career catch to convert a first down, Vincent Amendola ran on a fake hand-off and sprinted 22 yards.  Later on third and eight, another pass from Chris Ferguson to Allen along the sideline converted the first down for 11 yards, then another 11-yard dart to Caleb Smith got Towson inside the red zone.  Keegan Vaughan converted the 24-yard field goal to make it 3-0 Towson five minutes in.
• Richmond converted one set of downs, then the Towson defense held, including a pair of incompletions, to force a punt.  The other way, Towson went three-and-out and punted back to the Richmond 15.
• Towson held on a third and two on the Richmond 23 with an incompletion to the flat.  Next drive, Towson slowly went up field, converting a fourth down at midfield on a direct snap and run by Devin Matthews.  After a Richmond penalty and a few more rushes, on first and 10 from the Richmond 15, a pass to Dion Crews-Harris on the right side resulted in a touchdown on Crews Harris's first career catch.  Towson led 10-0 as the first quarter came to a close.
• Into the second quarter, Richmond pushed to midfield, but Towson halted the advance after a holding penalty and a Sam Gyeni sack on third and long.  Towson got the ball, but had to give it back after a three-and-out.
• Gyeni earned another sack to force third and long for Richmond, but a 21-yard catch by Leroy Henry got a first down past midfield.  Three plays later, Savon Smith burst up the middle for 24 yards and the touchdown.  Towson led 10-7 with 7:37 left in the second quarter.
• Following a three-and-out on both sides, Towson was backed up by a sack and a penalty.  On third down, Ferguson was strip sacked in the end zone, recovered by Richmond for a touchdown.  The Spiders led 14-10 with 3:31 left in the opening half.
• Towson looked to counterattack, beginning with a pass across the middle to Darian Street, who sprinted towards the sideline and earned 47 yards.  Towson went for it on fourth and six, missing its pass for a turnover on downs.  Towson's defense held as the Tigers tried again, starting from their own nine.  Caleb Smith made a 24-yard reception along the sideline, but two plays later, a pick six by Tyler Dressler made it 21-10 Richmond, the eventual halftime score.
• Richmond went to its rushing game to begin the second half, including a QB rollout by Joe Mancuso to go 19 yards and into the Towson red zone.  Mancuso threw a pass across the middle on second down, picked by SJ Brown II to end the drive and get Towson back the ball.
• Amendola took over as quarterback and led Towson down the field, beginning with passes across the middle to Marcus Joyner for 20 yards and another to Street for 17 yards.  Facing third and 17, Amendola found Smith in the middle.  Smith shook off a defender and sprinted into the end zone left side for the 37-yard touchdown, making it 21-17 Richmond with 8:09 left in the 3^rd quarter.
• The Spiders switched to mainly passing, trying short strikes against the Towson secondary.  On 3^rd and 10, Robert Topps III made an open-field tackle on Jasiah Williams to hold him to an eight-yard gain and halt the Richmond drive.  The punt was fair caught at the 13-yard line of Towson.
• After a Towson three-and-out, the first play for Richmond, Jasper made the catch then fumbled the ball after being hit by Mark Collins Jr.  Brown recovered the ball as Towson took over.  Towson went three and out despite the turnover and had to punt back to Richmond.
• Into the fourth quarter, Richmond methodically came down the field on short rushes, getting down to the Towson 37 with fourth and one.  Jamal Gay stuffed Jerry Garcia for a loss of one on the rush to the left to stop the drive.  Jerry Howard took the handoff on the next play and charged ahead for 32 yards as Towson looked to respond.  Towson was stopped on the Richmond 30, with a 47-yard field goal attempt missing wide.
• Next drive, a couple of short passes set up an option run: Jerry Garcia broke for 54 yards for the touchdown, giving Richmond a 28-17 advantage with 8:56 left to play.
• In its last gasp, Towson got a couple of first downs from Amendola on a completion to Joyner, then a rush for 13 yards.  After a pass interference penalty, Amendola tried to pass to avoid a sack, being intercepted with four minutes left.  Richmond ran out the clock on the next drive and won 28-17.

Inside the Numbers

• Jabari Allen earned his 100^th career catch on his first reception of the game in the opening quarter.
• Vincent Amendola appeared in his first game as a Tiger and first game since appearing for North Carolina vs. Temple on Dec. 27, 2019.
• Each Dion Crews-Harris and Brady McElhaney had their first career reception as a Towson Tiger.

Next Game:

• Towson's final home game of the regular season will commence on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. vs. Elon.  For ticket information, interested parties may contact the Towson Athletics ticket office by visiting www.towsontigers.com, calling 1-855-TU-TIGER or emailing dkogok@towson.edu.

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